Peer-to-Peer (P2P) file-sharing technologies have rapidly spread as a mechanism to distribute digital information (e.g., multimedia such as movies, TV, music, software, and imagery). One reason for the growth of P2P usage relates to the low cost economics of content distribution and its ease of use.
In very basic terms, peer-to-peer file sharing uses a resident software program on a computer or computing device of a requesting peer user to locate other computing resources on a network, typically the Internet (or other network types such as intranets) that have a file having the content desired by the requesting peer. The general process commences by running a peer-to-peer file-sharing software on the requesting peer computer which send out a request for the desired file on the network. In a trackerless system, the request is circulated to other computers (peers) on the network that have a compatible version of the file-sharing software for the desired file. If a tracker is used, the tracker can manage the peer resources to some extent and facilitates the peer-to-peer processing. When a remote computer resource or peer has been identified as having the desired file or portion thereof, the download begins, and it may be the entire file or a portion of the file. Other remote computers using the file-sharing software can also typically obtain files or portions of files from the various participating peers.
From a general perspective, peer-to-peer (P2P) technologies provide significantly lower cost mechanisms for content providers seeking to distribute digital information to many different interested parties. The P2P network takes advantage of the numerous, diverse connectivity between participants in a network and the cumulative upload/download bandwidth of all network participants allows rapid and cost efficient dissemination of content. Swarms represent groups of peers that interact with each other via a particular file distribution protocol for the purpose of sharing specific content and are largely composed of peers, but typically include “servers” such as the tracker, web server(s), and proxy server(s).
BitTorrent has been one of the most popular protocols for P2P file-sharing and is a protocol that allows a content provider to distribute digital content to a swarm of peers. The peers within the swarm will then disseminate parts of the content to each other in a peer exchange fashion such that as one peer is obtaining new pieces of content, it is simultaneously sharing its other pieces of content with other peers. In a peer-to-peer system, there is typically some content file that is prepared for sharing, wherein the content file is packaged in a format that adheres to the respective P2P protocol being used for the dissemination. Once the content file has been packaged according to the appropriate P2P requirements, the content is typically registered. An origin server, origin seed or web server is typically the initial distribution content point wherein the content provider will post the availability of the content. The information about the content is published indicating that the content file is available for downloading. There are various resources that list available content files so that interested peers can locate the content.
Peers join the swarm by downloading the file information about the content and registering to initiate the transfer process. Peers connect to each other, such as by using peer-lists and the peers exchange pieces of content files. The overall goal of P2P is for a large number of peers in the network of peers to exchange pieces of the content so that each peer obtains a full copy of the content. There can be anywhere from one to hundreds of thousands of participants in a P2P swarm. And, there can be any number of swarms that are participating in the distribution of the same or similar content at the same time.
While the P2P infrastructure has many advantages, it also has led to abuses. Piracy of digital assets on peer-to-peer networks incurs losses by content owners estimated in billions of dollars annually. These costs are typically passed along to the consuming public in terms of increased costs for legitimate purchased works and higher charges for increased deterrents to the piracy. Another problem of the pirated works is that they may not be of adequate quality such that the end-user is disappointed and the content provider may have a damaged reputation.
In addition, P2P networks require adequate resource management. Although there may be many swarms involved in P2P activity, some of the swarms are high volume swarms and tend to present resource allocation dilemmas to the service providers involved in the network communications.
There have been a variety of efforts by content owners to track and monitor the piracy activity involving their assets on P2P networks, and a number of initiatives to mitigate and reduce the piracy efforts. It is desirable that systems and efforts to mitigate piracy be implemented to reduce the peer-to-peer piracy problems.